In exciting news, at last we have the date confirmed for the launch of the City Rail Link:
Sunday 13th September 2026
Whoop whoop! Here’s the Government media release.
The official announcement was planned for 9am, and we’ve observed the embargo out of politeness. You can watch the official proceedings here.
But the fact that the news slipped out slightly ahead of schedule this morning – and was greeted with joy – surely only enhances the “wake up, it’s tiiiiiime!” Christmas-morning-feel of the whole thing. Who hasn’t wanted to shake that package?
We await official confirmation, but assuming the new weekend timetable will be in effect, these would be the first trains heading into the CRL on Sunday 13 September, 2026:
Pukekohe 5:21am
Swanson 5:23am
Newmarket 5:26am
Manukau 5:33am
Or, for those who prefer to be waiting at the best station to see the first arrivals, the first trains on each line from each direction would be arriving at Karanga-a-hape Station at: 5:45, 6:04, 6:18, 6:34
We’ll update this if anything changes.
First things first: credit where due
A great deal of heavy lifting by so many people has got us to this fantastic day. But especially it was this guy:
Also, longtime readers will know we’ve been covering this project since it was just a twinkle in Len’s eye.
A trawl of the archives going all the way back finds the earliest use of “City Rail Link” in posts from 2011: “The City Rail link has a nice ring to it”, I wrote under one such post, debating better names than the working title “CBD Tunnel”.
(Note: we don’t say “CBD” any more, either: we say “City Centre”, because it’s so much more than a business district – not least, home to tens of thousands of residents, and people who visit for reasons other than business – who now have two brand new stations to access all that goodness.)
“First looks” before first rides
As we covered earlier, Auckland Transport is running “First Look” events at the three new stations, starting with Maungawhau.
Tickets are free, but you do have to book. Sign up here to get a heads-up about when tickets drop for events at Karanga-a-hape and Te Waihorotiu
And, in case you missed it: please enjoy our photo-filled report from our early visit inside the stations. We certainly did!
Matt, Jolisa, Patrick getting a sneak peek (peak?) at Maungawhau Station
First up, best dressed!
Orders via our Digitees merch shopfront have a week’s turnaround, so if you want to be into it for Day One, get in now!
As well as CRL station “fab four” shirts, we have Greater Auckland tees, totes, and caps. Remember, these are print-on-demand (no returns possible), so be sure to double-check your sizing before ordering. And allow a week from order to delivery.
A fraction of all purchases through our shop goes towards supporting our work.
Plus a bonus option, thanks to our cuzzies across the Tasman! Peak Transit have added an Aotearoa section to their public-transport themed gear, which includes keyrings, and a nifty stylised post-CRL network design. (Special discount code for Greater Auckland readers: GACRLGO)
Update: Auckland Transport handed out these maps at the announcement. Good to see, but also a missed opportunity to launch a proper name for the new network, which is surely Auckland Rapid Transit aka ART.
C’mon AT, time to master the ART of branding!
Processing...
Well done Auckland! Looking forward to sending my Kiwi in-laws day one to provide coverage of this event to me.
Thanks, Greater Auckland, for your tireless advocacy and support of this vitally important project for Auckland. I have really enjoyed the many articles with maps, diagrams, photographs & video that you have published on the subject.
Will the Auckland City histories written in fifty years nominate this project as the embodiment of the Supercity transition and when Auckland really got going on it’s way from a big sprawly town to a real city.
PS: Thanks too to Len.
While undoubtedly Len Brown’s determination to get CRL underway was pivotal, one shouldn’t overlook the work done by ONTRACK (now KiwiRail) and ARTA in 2009-10 to secure the route protection for the CRL. There was a very real prospect in about 2007 that Auckland City Council would approve a consent application for a tower block development where Commercial Bay now stands, that would have prevented the CRL tunnels exiting Britomart towards Albert St because there was no designation in place. Fortunately sanity prevailed and the route was protected, albeit against the wishes of the Ministry of Transport under Steven Joyce.
First time hearing Bishop say ‘Dominion Rd’ and ‘tram’ in the same sentence. Mind you, a reference to the past. But to talk about it in the context of CC2M is very promising. I am really glad CRL is opening to open up more Aucklanders to rapid transit projects, especially surface light rail.
National’s involvement in all of Auckland’s Public Transport projects has been to inflict delay. And with that increased costs.
The Northern Busway according to them a future white elephant.
Northern Busway extension delayed for years.
The Northwest busway delayed for decades, inspite of the proven success of of the Northern Busway.
The Eastern busway likewise.
If Brownlee and Joyce got there way, Len’s Loop opening would still be decades away.
Simeon Brown is cut from the same cloth. Priority for Motorists regardless of other transport users.
But they want the scissors at ribbon cutting.
Um National started the CRL??? A $5 billion dollar project is that not enough for you?
No Auckland Council under Len Brown actually committed and started spending before John Key eventually overrode his car centric Minister of Transport and started spending the Government’s agreed half of the costs. Had National not been elected, Labour would have started a smaller, cheaper project, shorter platforms and single access point to
Ka Ranga Hape station. A project that may well have been completed pre covid.
Sorry
Karanga-a-hape
“Had National not been elected Labour would’ve started” yeah right Labour is literally the worst party at infrastructure. I honestly would put money we wouldn’t have even got the Dome Valley safety improvements started if JAG wasn’t associate minister for transport. I’d go so far to say they are the worst part of any political party we’ve seen at infrastructure they take a good project blow the costs out or cancel it inadvertently blowing the cost out they have such a s**t track record it’s almost laughable. I’m definitely not voting National this election but I sure as hell am not going to vote Liebour they are just a joke.
Also to those of you saying Covid blew out the costs, yes while some of that was out of our control a lot of that was decisions made by Labour that blew out construction times and costs. Again this is what listening purely to “experts” can do for a good project.
You make me laugh, Colah/Fassifern/“James”. If you’re as Aussie as your former alt accounts were, I doubt you’ll be voting for whatever road-addicted party strokes your teeny-tiny gearstick.
What on earth is wrong with you I provide in depth knowledge of NZ related road issues and local politics and you crow about me being Australian for some stupid reason.
I’m a Kiwi but I’m curious is there something wrong with someone being Australian you discriminatory piece of work.
Worse still half of your replies are having a personal stab at me rather than actually debating the topic we are here to discuss.
Nah, just sniffing out a troll with the exact same tells of gloating about the petrol huffers victories and promoting a “democracy” of the dumbest like you’re trying to rub it in the face of the evil greenies for trying to keep the planet habitable enough for a sustainably prosperous human society to endure.
Had National not dragged it’s heels the project may have been able to start 2-3 years earlier. That would have likely had it completed just before COVID.
That might not seem like much but CRL have previously attributed a $ billion in extra costs to COVID disruption. Also it would have had CRL ahead of some of the big Aussie projects which have sucked up some of the specialist resources needed for projects like this, so again would likely have helped with cost management.
Truth. This comment right on the money of you want to complain a out dost overruns especially.
*about cost overruns
On a NZH news clip today, the property editor indicated that the original budget only estimated the tunnel boring cost because “no contractors were prepared to commit to a price at that point”. When the confirmed cost actually came in, overall things jumped to $4.1bn. Not sure of the validity of that.
Related topic; I see there will be no less than 3 reviews of the CRL, with the cost blow out being a major focus. Is this currently done for roading projects?
Really? When we look at investments, I don’t think its about party, more about person.
Bridges for all his faults, signed off on a lot of very important investments. Probably the best minister for infra we have had in the last 15 years. Joyce on the other hand was horrific and the NW motorway fiasco/ reluctance with the CRL falls squarely on his feet. Brown was a disaster, but Bishop makes sense etc etc.
Labour with absolute power in parliament, two Aucklanders in charge of infrastructure, did what for our Public Transport?
Ruined a nice tram to Mangere and ensured that we didn’t get a pedestrian/bicycle lane on the Harbour Bridge. But when it came to roading, they didn’t have a problem promising the world though. I recall that they took a whole list of major roads, a list that looks very much like the roads of national significance, and promised to build it if they wont the election. A second harbour crossing, this lovely Northland motorway etc etc were cornerstones of that promise.
Surprisingly, Winston is quite a fan of heavy rail and has thrown his weight around a few times in a positive way. His latest call is for 4 tracking our southern line which seems a sensible position to take.
So on the balance of evidence I struggle to see that National has in any way been worse than the Labour party when it comes to Infrastructure and transport in Greater Auckland.
That’s very recent history.
Project DART (rail electrification, redevelopment of Britomart, double tracking western line, upgrading Newmarket, constructing Manukau spur) and the northern busway were both enabled from heavy support and investment by the Helen Clark government. You’d struggle to find two more pivotal projects in the resurgence of PT in Auckland. The fact that the CRL even is a thing is because of DART.
Would those have gone ahead under National? Highly questionable. And as has been pointed out, Key and Joyce put crazy thresholds in place before they would commit (to a loan), probably thinking they would never be reached.
Yes, the most recent Labour Govt didn’t cover itself in glory with LRT but they also funded electrification to Pukekohe, the new southern stations and the third main.
Yes DART was critical to getting electrification, which in turn was critical for the CRL.
But before that, the most important move was Britomart. So thanks then Mayor Fletcher. But for that to have been viable there was the earlier deal to get the second hand Perth trains, which kept passenger services running…
And strongly agree the Northern Busway (White Elephant!) was also super critical in getting Shore-ites on board with the whole concept of PT. Very important for the city as a whole.
Biggest crime in that context was the SH16 expansion with no Rapid Transit right-of-way reserved. A very big black mark against the Key govt to balance against their big positives of continuing electrification, agreeing to the CRL, and the urban Cycleways fund.
There’s a clear story of success following success in the AKL PT revival tale of this century which i am personally very grateful to have witnessed and to have had (and to continue to have) some small role.
This is just the beginning though! Onward.
And for the Council, PT investment largely spread across ideological lines, like Fletcher.
There are some notable exceptions of course, but the majority of Council seems to have been largely aligned once the ball was rolling. Of late of course, AT probably blunted that somewhat…
Also Labour funded the Eastern busway and Puhinui station. Along with the improvements to CRL (9-car platforms etc) the last Labour government did pretty well in terms of rapid transit.
Even if the current government gets to a second term it doesn’t look like they’re going to make any significant progress on the network, which would be the first government this century.
And as for Winston and rail, he only seems to care about Marsden Point and rail enabled ferries. Good projects, but surely, he has a bigger plan if it’s so vital to NZ?
He had a brief love affair with a Puhinui spur to the airport, but that’s come and gone. He hated LRT but seems happy to have nothing as the alternative for the isthmus.
Lots of good recent history comments that I think are accurate.
I thought it was good to hear that both Bishop and the Mayor were in agreement on the next Auckland transport priority – the Northwestern Busway.
Who delayed the CRL? National wasnt even in power when the delays happened, and they started if
While Key always seemed to be a supporter in principle, Joyce and some of his caucus colleagues were vehimently against it. They dragged the negotiations out for years but there is some argument the Chach quakes played a part in that. Its really when Bridges became the Transport Minister that things seemed to really move, so kudos there.
Is there any source for National describing the northern busway as a future “white elephant”? I’m aware of a cartoon in the Herald, but that’s not National.
Never forget: National has always been truck-centric.
If the money wasted on four lane roads had been spent on the rail system, we would have a world class functioning and efficient railway for freight and passengers.
At present about 15% of freight goes by roads that are not built for 52 tonne truck and trailer units.
Sorry truck operators, for too long you have had cheap RUC’s in relation to the damage your vehicles do to roads, so the ordinary light vehicle owners are subsidising your damage. In the higher weights RUC’s should go up by about 20% to cover truck wear and tear. With National, that will not happen, but if the rail’s share went up to 20 to 25% of freight, that would take thousands of truck journeys off the roads, and it would reduce both wear and tear and accidents.
Mistake: 15% goes by rail!
Now I just feel stupid because I really believed what they were saying about how it would need 6-8 weeks notice
We’re in the 6th week out right now so is was accurate.
They probably confirmed the rosters last week.
Well done train staff, for not letting the cat out of the bag!
OMG.. How far we have come…. although not all of us appear to have left the 1860s in London
““When the [CRL] station opens, who knows how many people will take the little dark tube under the ground.””
This was said to the post by “Bruce Sheppard, founder of accountancy firm Gilligan Sheppard, was formerly a member of Save the Queen Street, ”
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361057227/crl-not-adequate-replacement-critics-react-downtown-car-park-decision
On the network naming thing – I do wonder if it will one day future users will just call it ‘AT’ or ‘the AT’, like in Toronto how everyone just calls using their fantastic train, bus and streetcar system ‘taking the TTC’, after the agency which operates the PT system, the Toronto Transit Commission.
Not sure how long it took to be known as this, but the TTC was established in the 1920s so could take a while!
rode the train from Kingsland all the way to Papakura a few weeks ago and what stuck me was
…sorry cut self off…
…stuck by how much AT branding their was. Huge logos everything. Hundreds of them. An visitor to the city would surely think “I’m on the AT network…” or similar…
From what I can work out, once its actually in use,
AT will be working hard to actually eliminate the use of “CRL”.. they want it to be seen as simply the Auckland rail network or the specific lines,
They certainly don’t see it as “special” its just part of the network…
CRL is just one of many projects that have, and are continuing to add capability and reach to the Auckland surburban rail network.
We don’t talk about catching “The Emu,” although Auckland’s electrification was in a scale of projects comparable to the CRL.
For decades, “A Unit”, was in Wellington, synonymous with their suburban trains
I mean, with such memorable names for the lines, who can blame them….
Interesting comment found in the national infrastructure plan
“The Northwestern Busway is expected to cost much more than previous New Zealand busways, potentially exceeding the per-kilometre cost of many underground rail projects overseas.”
ah, the consequences of not bundling it in with the motorway widening a decade ago…
The Northern Busway *as planned*.
It could be a lot, lot cheaper with some lane reallocation.
Has a centre-running system with local interchanges on the overbridges been costed?
Yes to this – just reallocate lanes, save a fortune, save time.
I am going to give NZTA the benefit of the doubt here.
It should have been done with the widening of SH16, but that ship has sailed. There is going to be continued growth on that corridor and the greater northwest, but this plan would indicate there will be no more private vehicle capacity added despite a booming local population. They are going all in on RT and the costing indicates that.
I just hope it can be converted to light rail eventually, because you can see the bus numbers will explode a few years after it is done.
The NW Busway project info states making it easier to travel by car as one of the main benefits. We have to start to look at reducing car travel as an aim of transport projects instead of continually enabling it.
I am sceptical about converting it to Light Rail eventually. Imagine if the Northern Busway was changed to Light Rail right now, it would be massively disruptive for all commuters and it will be worse in the future if the sprawl continues. It probably would also not be massively popular, as it “just” adds capacity on good corridors anyway and would still be quite expensive.
So I think it is either build Light Rail now or busway forever.
Conversion of the Northen busway to a rail corridor is a major basis for the Waitematā Harbour Connections project
I get to enjoy a reduced travel time on the Western Line/E-W line for one week before my commute changes to having to get to Parnell which will now require a transfer – not complaining about the CRL, but cursing my luck is all.
Although if you time your transfer at K Road or Te Waihorotiu it could be as short as a 3 minute wait on the same platform for your train to Parnell…
Lets hope its quicker for him than currently.
Yeah, 3 mins to enjoy our new state of the art metro stations. Nice.
No avoiding a longer journey from Papakura to Waitemata. I really look forward to an express train some day.
Ridiculous that the very overwhelming most common language in the land plays second fiddle to a language spoken by 2% of the population (and almost all of whom speak English as well). Even more ridiculous though is that the main language is in regular font while the less useful (and understood by few) language is in Bold font!
Yeah these words are impossible to read aren’t they, just like Remuera, or Takapuna, or Kiwi… how will people cope? How will anyone know what country they are in?
Perhaps the very reason for not having English in the biggest boldest type is that it is already so ubiquitous (opps, too hard a word?). Giving all of us an opportunity to expand our use and comprehension of our only unique national language? Could be?
Anyway, Mr Sensible, great that you noticed and are now thinking about the role of language in society.
It doesn’t take too much thought to move from feeling uncomfortable at not always and automatically being being given a front row seat and never having to think about anything, to feeling some curiosity and then a sense of expansion by developing some extra competence and understanding. Good eh? Kia kaha.
International signage standards put the indigenous language at the top. Nothing special here.
For such an money and time expensive railway, only NZ has! Wish only knows within NZ!
Our most expensive infrastructure project ever! Let’s do more. Electrify every train in the motu. Hardwired like our CRL.
Save lives by moving us all onto safer transport options.
Save our lungs, except when we WANT to ride a bike.
Let’s pretend we live in the real world, catch trains, go out to live music, go out dancing, stop watching silly screens, and enjoy life as life shoild be enjoyed!
Sitting on a train, humming Sitting on The Dock of The Bay…wasting time
Bah humbug